Shifters, Secrets & Surprises Read online

  * * *

  Her dragon was asleep. Lexi put her hand on his belly and lightly stroked the golden fur that grew between his navel and the darker thicket of his pubes. His muscles contracted pleasingly under her touch. She leaned over and sniffed him. He smelled better and better all the time. He was also much better looking when she too was mortal-sized. It was too bad she could only take this form temporarily. But until he restored the ring of Hrothgar to her, she could not sustain her spell.

  He was too big. Bigger than his father or his brothers. But she supposed that the Princess Alexandra should know better than to fight Destiny. But surely Fate could have found her a mate who was more proportionate? Even in this human form she was far shorter than Theo was. There must be a way to transform herself into a Valkyrie like the Lindorm women. Like the women in his dreams.

  The important thing, however, was to persuade her dragon to do her bidding and to marry her. She had need of a new home, and the Kingdom of Erikki had long ago disappeared under the axes of the monks. She sighed. She was tired of waiting for her prince to come. This oversized dragon looked to be her best bet for finding a new home and a family.

  If only Theodor Lindorm would take her seriously. If only he behaved properly – like the heroes of the old stories who fell profoundly and immediately in love with the princess and went eagerly to do her bidding. Well, she would woo him in his dreams. Theo would fall deeply in love with her and only want to make her happy. She wanted to be happy.

  Unfortunately, now that she had him stretched out before her, she was not perfectly sure what to do with her sleeping dragon. All those long years ago, when she was a girl, she had heard stories of mortal lovemaking. Were those ribald tales true? She reminded herself that all she had to do was walk into his dreams and bring them to life. Easy as riding a squirrel.

  She looked down at herself. She had done a splendid job of matching Theo’s fantasy. Round pink and white thighs. Check. Soft skin. Check. Long red hair. Check. Bouncy rump. Check. Large breasts. Not so much. He would have to be satisfied with what he got. It wasn’t as if this rude and argumentative male was love’s young dream. Of course, she too was not young. Lexi grinned and dove headfirst into Theo’s dreams.

  * * *

  His little mate was dancing for him. She was unbelievably beautiful and unbelievably sexy. Her golden red curls fell over her shoulders and down her round ass past her feet. Somehow those feet pranced and spun without tangling in her long silken locks. And just how did he know that his mate had silky hair? Dimly, he recalled waking when she began painting designs on his skin with hanks of that flaming hair.

  Theo tried to see her better and realized that she had tied him up. He was spread-eagled on a raft in the middle of a lake. Hot summer sun beat down and dazzled his eyes. Impossible. His mate was dancing for him beside his pallet. Despite the glare, he forced his eyes open.

  He was floating on a bed. He was tied hand and foot to four thick, rough trunks of the immense beeches that served as the bedposts. He tugged, but his bonds held. The bed continued to bob. The murmurous waves chuckled all around him. Above him the blue sky was radiant and cloudless. A warm and gentle breeze blew the scent of sea and ripe womanhood to him. Someone was humming the sweetest melody in the world. He turned his head and his naked little mate smiled cheekily at him over one pretty shoulder.

  “Awake?” she cooed.

  She tossed her glorious mane and spun. Her titian locks parted to reveal the pearly beauties of her body. Pert rose-tipped breasts bobbled lightly as she lifted her legs in time to the tune she was humming. Every kick flashed her russet delta and coral lips at him. Her frothing bush smelled like sex incarnate. The swell of her belly and buttocks was everything he had ever found desirable in a woman.

  As if his eyes on her warmed her from the inside out, a flush began at her plump feet and climbed up to her dimpled knees and thighs, until when she turned her back to him and waggled her bottom, her scent was a thousand times stronger and more desirable. His own arousal climbed several notches higher.

  “Come closer,” he begged with his mind. His lips could smile but not speak.

  “Do you like what you see?” she taunted.

  “You know I do.”

  She leaped upward as if she stood, not on the surface of the lake, but on solid ground. But her feet were wet when they landed astride his thighs. And so were the curling ends of her hair. He looked up and drank in the sweet perfection of her glistening sex. The lips were swollen and he longed to taste and touch.

  His mate knelt over him and her soft fingers buried themselves in the thick pelt that grew over his pecs. She made a humming noise of great delight and her fingernails traced his tattoos and scored his nipples lightly. He jumped and she beamed at him as if he were a bright pupil.

  “You enjoyed that,” she bragged.

  “I did. What is your name?” he asked. Surely he should know his own mate’s name?

  “Lexi.” She ruffled the hair in his armpits and sniffed her fingers approvingly. She licked them in turn.

  Her green eyes held his and mischief lit her face. Her plump lips pursed. He could see the wheels turning in her mind. Theo thought that if she didn’t stop licking her fingers he would explode. His cock was so engorged it stood up at an angle and bucked like a live thing. Lexi spun around on his abs, giggled and swirled a finger in his damp thatch. She tasted that too.

  “Touch me,” he begged in a silent plea that made his throat ache.

  “I am touching you,” she corrected. She scooched backward and dipped her finger in his navel and twirled it.

  He rose as high off the bed as his bonds would allow and sweat sprang all over his body. He screamed, but no sound but her giggles filled his ears.

  “Good boy,” she said, patting him on one arm.

  She bounced upward, turned in the air and landed facing him again right on his cock. She rolled her hips and bent and kissed a trail from his belly button to his left nipple. His throat closed. His tension ratcheted tighter. She pinched the wet nipple and blew thoughtfully on it. A ripple of laughter followed her breath. She repeated the entire operation on the other side and examined his face.

  “Why are you teasing me?” he cried out.

  His mate sat back on her heels. Her ruby lips pouted. She placed her fists on her hips and glared at him. Surely he knew that glare? And that pout?

  “I am not teasing you,” she said huffily. “Don’t you know anything, Theodor son of Lind? This is love play.” Her warm contralto rose to an infuriated soprano. Her breasts swayed enticingly, but remained out of reach of his yearning hands and mouth.

  “You witch.”

  “I am not a witch!” She was indignant.

  “I can’t take much more,” he warned.

  “Truly?” Her voice was warm with satisfaction. “I knew I was doing it right!” She spun again and landed on his belly facing his legs. Her curls fell across his belly as she licked the tip of his glans. As he had warned, he was on a hair trigger. He spurted right in her face. “You did that on purpose.” She was weeping with rage.

  “Don’t cry. Let me loose so I can hold you, sweetheart.”

  “I don’t think so. You don’t deserve me.” And just like that the heartless succubus vanished.

  Theo woke to find his sheets a sodden mess. His body ached as if he had indeed been tied up by a cruel mistress. His cock felt as if it had been in a wringer. Despite the ending of his dream, he had the erection to end all erections, and he stank as if he had been slaving in a brothel all night.

  He swung out of bed and went to stand under a cold shower. He was too old to be plagued by wet dreams. A Lindorm of thirty-five should have a sweet-tempered, soft-bodied wife in his bed. They should dance the wedding polka all night, and wake full of energy and joy. He should not begin his day with blue balls and the devil’s own temper.

  * * *

  Her dragon was not happy this morning. The fine time she had shown him in his dreams had not
made him the slightest bit more in love with her than he had been before. She didn’t know what was wrong with him. She had done it exactly right – he had said so himself. Why had her magic not worked?

  Instead of greeting her with affectionate courtesy, Theo had stormed off to his washing room. It was true that they both needed washing this morning, but his rudeness still rankled.

  When he came out of his washing room, he was in the same nasty frame of mind. His brow looked like a thunderstorm waiting to happen. He put her forcibly in mind of the young God Thor in a temper. She didn’t know if she wanted to live with a crotchety mate. Fate had surely played her false. How else could someone as lighthearted and sweet-natured as she, end up matched to this cantankerous barbarian?

  As soon as Theo had put some clothes on, she flew down and perched on his shoulder. It was a thick, wide shoulder and there was plenty of room for her to stand. But instead of letting her speak directly into his ear, he snatched her up without warning and held her before his face.

  “Put me down,” she demanded.

  If anything, his hand tightened. “Not on your life, Princess,” he said. “I don’t want your spear in my ear.”

  As if she would. “You need to start on your Quest this morning,” she reminded him as sweetly as possible. “This mild weather will not hold forever. Soon the Gulf of Bothnia will be solid ice. Your Quest will not wait another day.”

  “I don’t know where you got the idea, Princess, that I had agreed to go diving for your lost ring.” He opened his hand and let her sit on the base of his thumb as she had before.

  Lexi fluffed out her skirts. It felt good to sit here on Theo’s warm hand. If only he wasn’t so stubborn. “What kind of a dragon turns down a Quest?” she demanded.

  “Quests are rather out of fashion, Your Highness.”

  She was so angry she almost got her trident out. But that was no way to bend him to her will. “But you like diving,” she coaxed. “You do it for fun. So, you might as well do it for profit. And you will be well rewarded.”

  “As enticing as the prospect of marrying a pixie no bigger than my thumb seems, Princess, I have to decline on the grounds of common sense. This is a mission with a high prospect of failure and a more than ordinary share of danger.”

  Lexi preened. “I knew you had enjoyed your dream,” she crowed.

  “What dream?” That threatened thunderstorm had erupted over his entire face. His beard seemed particularly energized, as if at any moment lightning bolts might flash from it.

  “You dreamed of me,” Lexi bragged.

  “I dreamed. Not of you, Pixie. Never of you.”

  She was so astonished she could barely speak. “After what has passed between us, I wonder you can say that.” She vanished, but Theo closed his fist as quickly as thought and trapped her.

  Chapter Five

  “Don’t leave mad,” he admonished her. “We’ll have to wait until summer to look for your ring. You’ve waited centuries – what are a few more months?”

  Lexi rematerialized. “But you cut down my home,” she explained. “You have to do my bidding.” Why didn’t he know the rules?

  “I have to do your bidding?” He was amused again.

  He opened his hand and Lexi resumed her seat. “You cut down my tree. I took you captive.” She itemized her reasons on her fingers. “This is your Quest. And if you succeed, I am your prize.”

  “I think you’ve overdosed on fairy dust, princess.”

  “What is this fairy dust?”

  “Whatever you sprinkle on your food.” His lips curved and split his beard.

  “Salt?” Certainly, Fate had sent her a defective mortal. He was obstinate and he made no sense.

  “Why do you need the ring of Hrothgar so badly?” he asked.

  Lexi perked up. At last, Theo was playing the game right. “I need it to obtain a new home.” She craftily told him the half-truth. Deceiving mortals in the beginning was normal. Her scheme would work out better if he didn’t know exactly how she planned to use the ring.

  “If I retrieve it, you will go to your new home and stay there?” he bargained.

  “Yes,” she said. Better not to get too fancy with the truth. She was already in her new home. With the ring she could stay. Forever. “And you will win half the Treasure Trove of Erikki.”

  As she had hoped, his eyes lit up acquisitively. How could she have forgotten how greedy dragons were? She had him.

  “The Treasure Trove of Erikki? Where is this treasure, Your Highness?”

  “That’s a secret.”

  “And what does the trove consist of, Highness?” His voice was irreverent.

  “Wealth beyond counting,” she replied.

  “Hmm. And I get half?”

  “Yes. Half will belong to you if you fetch me the ring of Hrothgar the Magnificent.”

  “And half the kingdom of the elves?”

  “When you marry the Princess,” she reminded him.

  He rolled his eyes.

  * * *

  Theo had no idea how that crazy pixie had persuaded him to go diving in December. But persuade him she had. He had agreed to dive the treacherous Gulf of Bothnia in the dead of winter. To dodge ice and hunt for a ring vanished for eight centuries. Either his delusional elf had turned his head, or he too was mad. Why else was he playing hero? It wasn’t as if he had any use for the reward Lexi was holding out.

  Theo was smart enough to be wary of octopuses. They weren’t monsters as Lexi believed, but they were both clever, and immensely strong. Each of their eight arms was covered in powerful suckers as dexterous as the thumb and forefinger of a human being. Divers had been drowned by five-pound octopuses.

  The octopuses in this particular channel were small, nevertheless Theo would be cautious. He had been diving for years, and the way you stayed alive in the North Sea was by being careful. The way you stayed alive running missions for the elite forces of the Navy, was to be very careful. And Örlogskapten Lindorm of the Swedish Royal Navy had learned sufficient caution to survive many missions.

  Lexi believed that she knew where Snorre the dragon had plunged to his death. But a lot could happen in eight centuries. Bujold the One-Eyed was one of Theo’s far distant ancestors. In the long vanished days of Thor and Odin, Bujold had terrorized settlers on either side of the Gulf of Bothnia.

  It was unlikely that when Bujold slew Snorre that the body had merely floated to the bottom of the ocean. Far more probably, hungry mouths had torn Snorre apart. Any of a dozen creatures could have scattered his bones and his gold armband across the sea floor. Despite the vision in the fingerbowl, both ring and bones were surely buried under feet of silt. Moreover, layers of barnacles would by now have rendered the ring indistinguishable from its surroundings. He was risking his life on pixie fantasies of long lost glories, instead of teaching Leo to make a snow fort.

  The sea was bitterly cold, but not as cold as it would become over the next few weeks. The water had that syrupy consistency that it got just before it froze solid. Even in his heaviest neoprene dive suit Theo could not spend long at the surface. It would be better if he was doing this dive in dragon. But he did not think an octopus would negotiate with a super-predator. Fortunately, the deeper he went, the warmer the water got.

  The many caves under this stretch of sea were all inhabited. He had brought a gift for the octopus who lived in the cave he was headed for. He had matched the spot to anchor his Zodiac against Lexi’s map, but he was still surprised at how easily he found the cave. Maybe Princess Lexi’s magic was more powerful than he thought.

  The octopus who guarded the elven ring was small as these creatures went. She was pale and frail with great age. She was at the end of her short life cycle, no longer interested in hunting or in playing. She had plugged the entrance to her cave with her mantle to prevent access to her precious eggs. Her focus had narrowed to the wellbeing of her strings of eggs – the culmination of her short life. She would reserve her venomous bite for the
ir defense.

  Octopuses had evolved cunning to evade turning into dinner, but they were well known to enjoy playing and toys. He had to hope that in extreme old age, this octopus had grown bored with her playthings. Beside the pale lump of the mother octopus’s mantle, he could see a heap of mollusk shells and stones as well as bones. These partially concealed the mouth of her den.

  Theo undid the pouch hanging from his dive belt. The octopus’s big eyes popped out of her mantle and regarded him curiously. She had recognized him as her unthreatening visitor and was unafraid. She had undoubtedly detected him and his gift long before he had seen her. It was hard to sneak up on an octopus. Every cell on her skin was capable of picking up odors in the water in the most infinitesimal concentrations.

  Theo spoke to her – mind to mind – as was his talent. The gift of being able to speak to other creatures was a common dragon talent. His was restricted to communicating with those creatures who lived in the oceans. Whereas Gunnar could talk to all animals. And Victor could understand the birds.

  He waved his tempting crab around, luring the octopus very slightly out of her cavern and away from her precious eggs. Alien mind to alien mind, he offered her a trade. He did not make the mistake of thinking her reasoning matched his. She brought him clam shells and the flipper bones of a seal, and then a live and pulsating pink and purple anemone. He made a circle with his thumbs and forefingers and formed an image of her bracelet.

  Stubbornly, she continued to ply him with shells and pebbles. But finally, reluctantly, she brought him a shining gold circle inscribed with patterns so elaborate they made the hairs on his arms stand up. Surely this must be the prize for which he had been sent? Was it really going to be this easy?

  He gave her the crab, which she seized with two of her arms. She used her suckers like conveyor belts to bring the crustacean from the tip of her tentacles to her powerful beak. After one bite, her mantle engulfed it whole. She flushed a delicate blue with happiness.

  Two of her other arms idly waved in the water, circled Theo’s ankles and yanked. He fell backwards and landed on the seafloor. The little octopus continued to pull hard even as he struggled in her embrace. As fast as he removed one tentacle, she re-attached two. One began to unbuckle his pouch. She had eaten the crab and now she wanted her toy back.